The East Godavari ONGC saw unrest today as scores of fishermen staged massive protests against the oil rig's seismic survey activities in the region's sea bed along the coast.
Citing disruption in fishing activities, several fisher folk vandalized the ONGC premises, and said that they would continue protesting unless the activities were halted.
The ONGC, through the seismic survey, is trying to identify oil and gas reserves in the ocean floor, in a bid to keep up with the increasing demand for oil in the nation.
The fishing community in East Godavari objected to this as the activities were allegedly forcing marine species to migrate from the region.
The Andhra Pradesh police, which had earlier chosen to ignore the issue, are now on vigil round the clock as rumours of the protest going violent ran wild as the fisher folk had destroyed cable lines used for oil extraction in some places.
The cops stated that they were ready to make arrests if the situation turned violent.
filed in:fullhydOriginalNews, East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh Police, Protests, Surveys, Natural Gas, Gas Projects